1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, or a technique of managing an information file stored in another information processing apparatus connected to the information processing apparatus via a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a method in which an information file (hereinafter referred to as a “file”) stored in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer is selected or classified and managed, a method in which a folder tree is displayed to allow a user to specify a folder, and thumbnail images and icons of files included in the designated folder are arranged and displayed in order of names or preparation date and time has heretofore been known.
Moreover, a method has also been known in which contents desired by a user can be efficiently searched for based on attribute data associated and recorded with contents stored in the information processing apparatus (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-116933).
However, to select or classify and manage the information using the technique described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-116933, there have been problems as follows.
In the technique described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-116933, attributes of the file which is an object need to be defined beforehand as a hierarchy in such a manner that the attributes are represented by the folder tree. Therefore, it is difficult to apply this technique to image files to each of which a plurality of attributes are imparted and which are stored in the processing apparatus, such as files of images photographed by electronic cameras.
Moreover, even by the use of the technique described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-116933, when object files are scattered and stored in many folders, the image cannot be displayed on one screen, and therefore handing has been laborious. When a large number of files are included in one folder, there has been a problem that it is difficult to specify a target file.